1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of fabricating a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the fabrication of a highly integrated semiconductor device, the performance of the device can be improved by increasing the mobility of carriers within a channel of the semiconductor device. Accordingly, recent research in this field has focused on increasing carrier mobility. A method of increasing carrier mobility is to form a stress layer in a semiconductor device in order to apply tensile or compressive stress to a channel region.
However, as semiconductor devices have become smaller, element patterns of these devices have also become finer. The smaller sizes of these devices and the finer element patterns have made it increasingly difficult to form a stress layer in the process of fabricating a semiconductor device.